French architect Vincent Callebaut poses in front of a picture of one of his futuristic projects - The Dragonfly - on "the city of tomorrow". Photo: Bertrand Guay.

Move over vertical gardens - urban cows and apple orchards could be the next big thing, as architects consider setting up "vertical farms" on top of apartment blocks.

When Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut put forward an "urban farm" concept for a twin-tower development in New York, called Dragonfly, in 2009, he was laughed at.

But industry experts in Sydney say the idea may catch on.

Vincent Callebaut's New York farm designs are increasingly gaining traction.

With growing concerns over the plight of the planet, overpopulation and climate change, Mr Callebaut's ideas have gained traction and the design has been exhibited at an international fair in China.

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So far there have been no buyers for the concept, but there is rising interest. The farm would produce meat, dairy products and eggs and would feature orchards, meadows and rice fields.

"They made fun of me," Mr Callebaut said of his detractors.

An artist's impression of the Alexander building in the Barangaroo development.

"They said I created a piece of science fiction."

But developer lobby chief and former NSW government architect Chris Johnson thinks the idea would work in Australia. And the man who sold all of the apartments in Barangaroo in a day last year, CBRE Residential chairman Justin Brown, agrees.

"Buildings shouldn't be separate from nature," Mr Johnson, the chief executive of the Urban Taskforce and author of Greening Cities, said.

Vertical garden at the new development at Central Park. Photo: Sahlan Hayes.

"A lot of buildings in Sydney and Melbourne have expansive rooftop gardens, the next step is to make them usable."

One of the buildings in the first stage of development at Barangaroo, Alexander, was covered in bougainvillea and Mr Brown said many buildings already had some of the technology needed to sustain small farms.

"Vertical gardens are definitely a trend, which I think will expand to farms over years to come," he said.

"I think most developers and also council are leaning towards new projects being as self-sufficient as possible.

"Utilising the building's common areas for solar panels and grey water reticulation will help in maintaining the vertical farms."

Mr Callebaut told AFP that the farms would create a healthier and happier future for the estimated 6 billion people who will live in cities around the world by 2050.

Apart from having cows and orchards, the Dragonfly farm would harvest energy from the sun and wind. Hot air trapped between the building "wings" would provide heating in winter.

In summer, cooling would be achieved through natural ventilation and transpiration from the abundant plant growth.

Plants would grow on the exterior shell of the development to filter rain water, which would be captured and mixed with liquid waste from the towers, treated organically and used as fertiliser.

And at the base of the colossus: a floating market on the East River for the inhabitants to sell their organic produce.

Mr Callebaut has also drafted a concept for a floating city resembling a lily pad that will house refugees forced from their homes by climate change.

And he hopes to sell a design for a "farmscraper" in Shenzhen, China, that will include housing, offices, leisure space and food gardens.

Mr Johnson said that the Central Park development at Broadway in Sydney was a good example of "the way landscape can go up, over and through buildings". He said that cities should also be used for growing trees, wheat and vegetables.

But Mr Brown said the urban farms may have to go somewhere other than the rooftop.

"When you've got super prime penthouses, it is more profitable to have the rooftop just for the penthouse owners," Mr Brown said.

- with AFP

42 comments so far

It will be interesting to visit and compare it with the existing hotel "Singapore Parkroyal On Pickering St."

Commenter

E10

Location

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 3:54PM

No, I can see how that would work. Add a couple of cows to the already overcrowded CBD unis to add some income to offset the high rent. Brilliant!

Commenter

Bang Bang

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 6:08PM

Imagine the strata fees/maintenance costs! But yea .. it could be pretty cool to get more of that.

Commenter

Yuppy

Location

Yuppy Ville

Date and time

January 29, 2014, 8:30AM

This is a bit of a pipe dream, why would you build a massive building to effectively grow a crop that normally only requires a flat piece of ground. Currently vertical gardens are a bit of a novelty, they are completely inefficient to keep watered and difficult to keep alive, so why would you continue with this rather elaborate way of growing crops. Aren't we meant to be changing our society to a more green and environmentally friendly.. The volume of resources to built this type of infrastructure is excess and completely unnecessary.

Commenter

Mathew

Location

Sydney

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 5:33PM

Its not a pipe dream, it is rapidly becoming a reality. However I do agree with the rest of your post in the sense that it would appear to be an efficient allocation of resources. It would be far more efficient in terms of total energy, resource and cost inputs to grow food at a farm at ground level somewhere in a couple of hundred km radius and then have distributed to people via the normal distribution channels.

But then you need to consider other factors, like the sense of satisfaction that these people get in growing some of their own food, the hands on knowledge gained in growing some of their own food and even the ability to have greater control over the quality of some of your own food. And people should know that the quality of food is now becoming a major problem today.

The final decision is, if these people are prepared to pay for these things then so be it.

Commenter

Its ok

Location

Date and time

January 29, 2014, 10:18AM

The best way to get vertical farms to work is to start eating soylent green.

Commenter

M

Location

Date and time

January 30, 2014, 11:25AM

Sydney-siders should stop putting funny pills in their cafe lattes and at least complete one disastrous, silly and insane concept such as bicycle lanes first.

"Oh darling, your tomatoes are falling into my balcony and my tolerance simply does not extend that far".

*sips latte*

Commenter

Halcyon Ford

Location

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 5:37PM

I still think this is total fantasy. I have been involved in agriculture as a farmer, investor, professional advisor and consultant for more than 40 years. The real costs (adjusted for inflation) of producing food and other agricultural produce on farms, and delivering it to cities, is relentlessly being pushed down by international competition. I would challenge the promoter of this seemingly plausible idea to put the economics forward for scrutiny. I expect that when all the costs are shown, this idea will not be economically feasible.

Commenter

Andrew Macpherson

Location

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 5:41PM

you're right about the economics - mass production wins every time - but interest in this is more about feeling closer to nature in the city - and the pleasure of picking your own herbs or tomatoes - we had just one from our balcony the other day and did it taste special - a real treat - BTW I wont be buying tomatoes from the supermarket at $6 a kilo ...

the feeling of fresh air, feeling part of nature as a relaxant, carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle - we have a worm farm where most of our (non-meat/dairy/onion) food scraps are turned into super-fertilizer worm wee which boosts all our flowering pot plants - and of course just flowers bring pleasure not only to us but also passers-by ...

I think soil layers help insulate thermal mass construction - water similarly - and maybe even bees are happy to make honey from urban flowers - so there are many attractions beyond the simple 'cheaper on a farm' ...

Commenter

Frank

Location

Sydney

Date and time

January 28, 2014, 8:04PM

Exactly visit a farm and understand what a cow does, acts, behaves. Sounds romantic to have cows wandering across your rooftop.

But it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, only need to watch what cows do in confined spaces, there will be nothing romantic about it at all, they don't act like they do out in open space. The only way cows would feel comfortable in a confined space is surrounded in a herd, and a big group of cows inside a building. We're back to a pretty ugly feedlot again the romance is lost.